The Blank Page: Starting Again

Strategies. Comparisons.  

After a painting break, I use various strategies to get back into painting again since the previous work flow has been interrupted and I need a new place to begin.  I had a really lovely week-long beach vacation and am feeling refreshed and ready to go (back to work)!

sometimes I start with just a color and an image of a previous painting

And it is in these times that I remember how hard it can be to start; the feeling of "stuck-ness" that can come from approaching the blank page.  In these times, I think to the words of John Cage that the paralysis can be broken by "beginning anywhere."  To pick something and start (easier said than done, right?).  It's a good practice to find a limitation, to select something whether that be a certain color, a line, a found image, or a piece of fabric.  By simply selecting something you rule out many other possibilities and narrow your focus.  Or, in the words of Joan Didion:

"What's so hard about that first sentence is that you're stuck with it.  Everything else is going to flow out of that sentence. And by the time you've laid down the first two sentences, your options are all gone." 

(this quote is from American aurthor Joan Didion as quoted in Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles & Ted Orland)

or sometimes to start I need to get out a lot of different supplies and just "play" (and make a mess)

or sometimes I take an old abandoned painting, like this one, and start over...

...and that painting became this painting!

Another approach I like to use is to go back and look at older work because after a long laps of time since seeing an image it feels fresh and new again.  Then I also look for patterns in the work, and notice tendencies I had not noticed before (what are the items in my "visual vocabulary"?)  For example, this painting I made in 2006....

Blush 24x24 inches acrylic and fabric on canvas 2006

...and this painting I made in 2012 and while the mark making has become more tame, the colors and way value was used is similar, like in those "stripes."  It can be illuminating to make those comparisons, and there will be things I notice in common between the two which can give me a starting place for today.

Minty Shore 20x20 acrylic on canvas 2012

Do you have strategies you use to start painting after a break?  Or in whatever creative realm you work in, like song writing or sewing?

I would love to hear what you do.  I'll share more later on in the blog, so stay tuned.

Happy Monday!  ( I actually kind of love Mondays since there is so much possibility for the week ahead)  Here's to starting!

Art Arrived in the Mail

I am excited to share my first Etsy purchase with you.  It is hard to believe I have been working on my Etsy shop for about eight months and have not bought anything until now (all that intensive ballet class I grew up doing, if it taught me anything, it taught me discipline!).  But, it has finally happened, I have finally made a purchase!

There are sooo many wonderful artists and makers on Etsy, it can be overwhelming (in a most truly wonderful way!).  I made a deal with myself that I would save money earned on Etsy (as tempting as it can be to spend it as soon as I make it, like the time in college when I worked at a book store, hmm, enough said).

Like many artists on a tight budget, naturally I would love to buy something, then don't because I probably just bought a $20 tube of paint, right?! and then have probably just ran out of Cadmium Yellow.  And then Cobalt Teal.  You get the picture.

So the other day, I was reading the Etsy blog and came across a Fresh Shops feature on this wonderful new shop: Totem Color Blocks!  Look...

Immediately, I must admit, I was hooked, taken in by the inviting photos of these darling structural neckpieces.  Drawn in by their minimal form and elegant, yet simple color palette, they shouted at me with their wonderfully coordinated hand-painted hues.

Then I read a little more about these charming wooden blocks in an interview of their maker, Pamela Foeckler, from California, who worked as an art conservator.  She states:

"The titles for my pieces are mostly dramatic landscapes.  I take an image and distill it down to the most elemental colors.  It's a reductive process, but it helps me absorb and understand the true beauty of a place."

which she learned from her experiences painting museum objects, "breaking down complicated colors and patterns into their essential components."

Read more about these wearable structures on this Etsy Fresh Shop Feature:
http://www.etsy.com/blog/en/2012/fresh-shops-totemcolorblocks/?ref=fp_blog_title

...and, here is a peek at my new favorite piece of wearable art!  

In the works...

March has been a really productive month in the studio.  This spring I have been feeling very settled into my (relatively) new space located in the Chase Street Park Warehouses in Athens, Georgia.  Here is a peek at what has been going on in there lately... 

I currently have about 30 canvases going,  all at different stages of progress, and am bouncing in between all of them, working them up together.  I have found this way of working to suit me best.  This way, the paintings all feed off one another and if I get an idea for a new painting in the midst of painting, I have a place to immediately get the idea down.   

It has been serious fun painting this past month.  Color has been a primary area of focus, trying to explore new color relationships and challenge my palette.  

I have also recently discovered the beauty of mining through older work for new source material.  This process has lead to my recent series of watercolor paintings, of paintings.  The above is one made recently based on this painting:

Right now, I am getting ready to hang new work at our Athens local Heirloom Cafe (LOVE their FOOD! If you haven't eaten there yet, eat there soon!!).  Paintings will go up in early May.  More details to come!